Suicide Attacker Used 264 Pounds of Explosives to Target Police Station in Pakistan, Killing 23

Security officials examine damages on the site of a bombing at a police station on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (AP Photo)
Security officials examine damages on the site of a bombing at a police station on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (AP Photo)
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Suicide Attacker Used 264 Pounds of Explosives to Target Police Station in Pakistan, Killing 23

Security officials examine damages on the site of a bombing at a police station on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (AP Photo)
Security officials examine damages on the site of a bombing at a police station on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (AP Photo)

The suicide bomber who rammed his car into a police station's main gate in Pakistan's northwest used 120 kilograms (about 264 pounds) of explosives, authorities said Wednesday. The attack — one of the deadliest in months — killed 23 officers and wounded 32 others the day before.
Inayat Ullah, head of the bomb disposal unit, told The Associated Press the explosives were fitted in the suicide attacker’s vehicle.
The assault — which also included five other militants opening fire before officers gunned them down — targeted Daraban police station in the city of Dera Ismail Khan, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan and is a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP.
The militant Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan group — believed to be an offshoot of the TTP — claimed responsibility for the attack.
A large number of security forces from across Pakistan were recently deployed at the station for intelligence operations against militants in the area in coordination with the local police, authorities said.
In a statement, the military said Wednesday it held an overnight funeral for those killed, attended by senior army officials.
The attack came when the country's powerful army chief, Gen. Asim Munir was on an official visit to the United States. He assumed his position in Nov.2022, days after the TTP ended its cease-fire with Pakistan's government. Since then, the militant group has stepped up its attacks targeting security forces. The deadliest was in January when 101 people were killed, mostly police officers, after a suicide bomber disguised as a policeman attacked a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Authorities said they have increased their intelligence-based operations, killing more than 500 militants since 2022.
Tuesday’s attack has further strained relations between Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan’s Taliban-led administration. Pakistan has previously accused the Taliban of hosting leaders of the TTP across the shared border from where they launched their attacks.
In a statement, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said it summoned a Taliban-appointed representative from Kabul to protest the latest assault. It demanded Afghanistan “fully investigate and take stern action against perpetrators” of the attack and also “publicly condemn the terrorist incident at the highest level.”
In Kabul, the Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the attack on Wednesday, promising an investigation. But he said things happening in Pakistan shouldn't be always linked to his country, adding that Islamabad should pay closer attention to security matters because the attack happened hundreds of kilometers from the border.
Mujahid added they do not allow anyone to use their territory to carry out attacks against Pakistan or any other country.
The attack drew condemnation from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who tweeted: “We stand with the people of Pakistan in ensuring perpetrators are brought to justice and offer our deep condolences to the families of the victims.”
Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, also denounced the attacks and extended “sympathies to the families of the victims,” on X, formerly known as Twitter.



Suspect in Killing of Top Russian General Charged with Terrorism

A detainee, named as Uzbek national Akhmad Kurbanov and considered by investigators as a suspect in the murder of chief of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops Igor Kirillov along with his assistant, sits inside an enclosure for defendants before a court hearing in Moscow, Russia December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Yulia Morozova
A detainee, named as Uzbek national Akhmad Kurbanov and considered by investigators as a suspect in the murder of chief of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops Igor Kirillov along with his assistant, sits inside an enclosure for defendants before a court hearing in Moscow, Russia December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Yulia Morozova
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Suspect in Killing of Top Russian General Charged with Terrorism

A detainee, named as Uzbek national Akhmad Kurbanov and considered by investigators as a suspect in the murder of chief of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops Igor Kirillov along with his assistant, sits inside an enclosure for defendants before a court hearing in Moscow, Russia December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Yulia Morozova
A detainee, named as Uzbek national Akhmad Kurbanov and considered by investigators as a suspect in the murder of chief of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops Igor Kirillov along with his assistant, sits inside an enclosure for defendants before a court hearing in Moscow, Russia December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Yulia Morozova

The suspect in the killing of top Russian general Igor Kirillov has been charged with an act of terrorism resulting in the death of a person, a notice on the website of the Moscow court said on Thursday.

Russia said on Wednesday it had detained an Uzbek man who had confessed to planting and detonating a bomb in Moscow which killed Kirillov, who was the chief of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, on the instructions of Ukraine's SBU security service.

Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said in a statement on Wednesday that the unnamed suspect identifed as Akhmad Kurbanov had told them he had come to Moscow to carry out an assignment for Ukraine's intelligence services.
In a video published by the Baza news outlet, which is known to have sources in Russian law-enforcement circles, the suspect is seen sitting in a van describing his actions.

He describes placing the device on the electric scooter and parking it outside the apartment block where Kirillov lived.
Investigators cited him as saying he set up a surveillance camera in a hire car which, they said, was watched in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro by people who organized the killing.
The suspect, who is thought to be 29, is shown saying he remotely detonated the device when Kirillov left the building. He says Ukraine had offered him $100,000 and residency in a European country.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry, said Moscow would raise the assassination at the United Nations Security Council on Dec. 20.